Industry news roundup - July/August 2016

Thursday, September 1, 2016

An update from the communications team on last month's global industry news.

Beginning this month’s roundup with sport, the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis opened its very large doors (Star Tribune), while a new retractable roof was closed for the first time on Arthur Ashe Stadium (New York Times) in the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre. In the UK, Building.co.uk reports the completion of London’s Olympic Stadium conversion.

Project approvals this month include a Melbourne skyscraper designed by the late Zaha Hadid (Construction Global), a revamp for the Royal Mint (bdonline) and a regeneration of Liverpool’s Lime Street (BBC News).

In safety, the Scotsman reports completion of the new Forth Bridge has been delayed due to weather conditions, rail services between London and the East Midlands were disrupted by the partial collapse of a bridge in Leicestershire (The Guardian), and in India, a highway bridge in Goa suffered a catastrophic collapse (BBC News).

In skyscraper news, Torre Reforma, Mexico City’s tallest building was completed (Dezeen), the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai opened a glass walkway on its 88th floor (weather.com) and there are reports in San Francisco that the Millenium Tower has sunk by 16 inches in eight years (abc7).

In other news, two artists designed and built a rotating house balanced atop a concrete column in upstate New York (Dezeen), while 17 projects by Le Corbusier have been named UNESCO World Heritage sites. Meanwhile members of the Construction Industry Council met to discuss the opportunities and challenges posed by Brexit for the built environment professions.

Finally, in an interesting development, a living, self-repairing form of concrete has been created, Science Alert reports.